This Is How You Lose The Time War is an epistolary f/f sci fi romance novel between Red and Blue, two soldiers / agents on the opposite sides of a mysterious time war. Initially they only exchange letters to crow about their victories over one another, but it soon becomes apparent that their admiration for one another's tactics and skill is turning into much more.

The writing in this book is absolutely exquisite. I highlighted so many passages; it's often more like poetry than narrative. We discover the growth of Red and Blue's relationship through their intimate letters to one another - some reviewers have compared it to the correspondence between Virgina Woolf and Vita Sackville West, and that's not far off.

The two of them are forced apart by the divide between their status as rivals, and there's always a poignant jeopardy to their letters; much like many queer people even today, the threat of a secret being discovered on someone else's terms is always present. I found it to be a pretty clever metaphor in that respect, whether intended or not.

By the end of this book, I'm not ashamed (much) to say that I had shed a few tears on the train. Only little ones, though. Honest.

An absolutely beautiful story about love across a divide.